Reference Command Tracking for a Linearized Model of an Air-breathing Hypersonic Vehicle

The focus of this paper is on control design and simulation for an air-breathing hypersonic vehicle. The challenges for control design in this class of vehicles lie in the inherent coupling between the propulsion system, and the airframe dynamics, and the presence of strong exibilit y eects. Working from a highly nonlinear, dynamically-coupled simulation model, control designs are presented for velocity, angle-of-attack, and altitude command input tracking for a linearized version of a generic air-breathing hypersonic vehicle model linearized about a specic trim condition. Control inputs for this study include elevator deection, total temperature change across the combustor, and the diuser area ratio. Two control design methods are presented, both using linear quadratic techniques with integral augmentation, and are implemented in tracking control studies. The rst approach focuses on setpoint tracking control, whereas in the second, a regulator design approach is taken. The eectiv eness of each control design is demonstrated in simulation on the full nonlinear model of the generic vehicle.